Legislative recap for Monday, June 9
Faced with the question of whether to change the unique way the state's constitutional officers are chosen, the majority of lawmakers on Monday rejected the notion that the attorney general and secretary of state should be elected by voters, rather than the Legislature.
The Senate voted against a bill that would amend the constitution to require the popular election of the secretary of state, attorney general and state treasurer (LD 455) and then voted against a similar bill (LD 508), which was later tabled. Other proposed constitutional amendments to require the popular election of the secretary of state (LD 147) and attorney general (LD 149) were rejected by the majority of both chambers.
With papers frantically shuffling between chambers this week ahead of the planned June 18 adjournment, Maine Morning Star will highlight the biggest items of debate as well as legislation and issues that we've followed all session.
Here's an overview of what happened Monday.
Both chambers
Both chambers have now passed a resolve (LD 470) directing the Department of Education to review teacher mentoring programs in Maine Public Schools after the House voted Monday to pass an amended version of the bill.
Following the Senate last week, the House voted 81-64 to pass LD 1145, which would give a group of mobile home owners or a mobile home owners' association the right of first refusal to purchase a mobile home park if the owner intends to sell. The House also adopted a floor amendment stripping the emergency clause from the bill that was also approved by the Senate. (More on this issue here.)
The House and Senate have both also passed LD 13, which establishes a fund for the Secretary of State's Office for the production and delivery of election-related materials.
The Senate backed two measures previously supported by the House that would expand access to needle exchange programs (LD 1078) and fund proper disposal of syringe litter (LD 1738). (More on this here.)
Both chambers voted Monday against legislation (LD 1505) that would phase out the sales and use tax, as well as another bill (LD 1899) that would have eliminated taxes on health care spending, which tax committee co-chair Sen. Nicole Grohowski (D-Hancock) said she generally supported but the bill was 'not ready for prime time.'
The House voted 74-71 for LD 1113, which asks a court, when sentencing an individual for a Class A, Class B or Class C crime, to consider the age of the individual at the time of the conduct. The Senate later followed, voting 19-15 to pass the measure.
A proposal (LD 1036) to prohibit landlords from refusing to rent to tenants solely because they rely on programs such as General Assistance or housing vouchers is essentially dead after both chambers insisted on their respective positions on the bill. After it was initially passed by the House last week, the Senate rejected the bill after Sen. Chip Curry (D-Waldo) explained that the Judiciary Committee is carrying a similar bill into the next session to allow more time to work on it. (More on this bill here.)
Before the Senate passed LD 1522 without a roll call, the House voted 76-68 to permanently establish the Maine Eviction Prevention Program within the Maine State Housing Authority.
Members of both chambers rejected a measure (LD 152) that would have amended the Freedom of Access Act to require agencies to respond to public records requests within a specific time.
Both the House and Senate rejected a bill (LD 1593) that would require that, when making a decision based on advancing equity, that a state or a local government agency make public its definition of the term as well as metrics.
Both chambers also voted down a so-called parents rights bill (LD 1974), which would explicitly declare it a fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, education and care of their child.
Both chambers have also now rejected legislation (LD 1707) that would require an individual to be a citizen of the U.S. in order to receive any state or local assistance, aside from education. It would also have required municipalities to comply with federal immigration authorities in order to receive general assistance or state-municipal revenue sharing.
LD 613, a bill supported by the Maine Medical Association that allows terminally ill patients to waive the current 17-day waiting period for access to life-ending medication, is in limbo after the Senate voted 17-18 on Monday against passage of the measure, which won the backing of the House last week.
The House Monday again voted against passage of LD 1263 after the Senate last week backed the measure, which would create a Class A crime for aggravated trafficking of fentanyl when it results in an overdose. It now goes back to the Senate to take up again.
After a failed effort to align with the Senate's rejection of LD 1535, the House insisted on passage of the bill, which would require the Public Utilities Commission to gather a group of municipal, police and fire officials to discuss the high electricity usage related to illegal cannabis grows in the state. Since the Senate last week insisted on its position against the bill, it is now essentially dead.
The chambers are split over a resolve (LD 1364) directing the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to evaluate efforts to promote the use of non-lead ammunition with the House passing an amended version of the bill that the Senate rejected. During the Senate debate, Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland) said she is consistently approached by constituents seeking to ban lead-based ammunition but said they've never done that because educating people about this topic gets them to choose a better option. The amended version of the bill, she explained, would make educational materials more accessible.
After passage in the Senate last week, the House voted 76-69 to reject LD 371, which would remove the 100-megawatt maximum capacity limit for hydropower to qualify as a renewable resource under the state's renewable resource portfolio requirement. (More on this issue here.)
After LD 1928 squeaked through both chambers last week, the Senate voted 14-20 against enactment on Monday leaving the bill, which would prohibit lodging establishments from using single-use plastic containers — such as mini shampoo bottles — in limbo.
The Senate on Monday voted under the hammer to pass legislation (LD 1202) to create the African American Studies Advisory Council to measure and monitor the implementation of related curriculum using data collected by the Department of Education. It is an amended version of legislation that passed last year but was never enacted. (More on this here).
House lawmakers voted 100-44 to back legislation (LD 297) that extends provisions of current law regarding the management of wastewater treatment plant sludge at the state-owned landfill.
The House voted against legislation (LD 1268) that would have provided an annual stipend to all employees of the Maine State Ferry Service.
Legislation (LD 1471) requiring a landlord to provide tenants an energy efficiency disclosure statement for certain rental housing in the state passed the House.
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